Helicopter car chase scene, take 1
by that's just morbid
Summary: Inuyasha as a stuntman, Kagome as a gorgeous young starlet. A high risk stunt goes horribly wrong, but at least it's all on camera! Strong language warning!


Helicopter car chase scene, take 1.

My take on the brilliant idea of a stuntman Inuyasha AU! Credit to artistefish for the idea and inspiration. Enjoy!

Nony314 (Annie's blog) on tumblr

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"Oi! Naraku!"

The director paused mid-step with a deep sigh. He knew that tone, and every time he'd heard it it meant a headache. Inuyasha was the best stuntman on the west coast of Japan, but not always the most reasonable. He glanced at the white haired Hanyo over his shoulder, seeing the familiar seething look on his face.

"What is it this time…?" He huffed.

"Oh nothin. Just this stunt you're tryina kill me with." He explained, crossing his arms over his chest as he sent a glance towards the cherry red convertible, rigged full of explosives, and the most expensive prop on the entire set, a helicopter with no door suspended from a crane. As the director looked it over he didn't see any problem , other than an argumentative stuntman.

"What's wrong with it?" He asked, not really caring about the answer, but hoping to pacify him enough to get the take finished. They were losing sunlight.

"The cables." He growled. "They've gotta be half a century old! You find em at a garage sale?" Naraku narrowed his eyes at Inuyasha, resuming his walk to the director's chair.

"They're fine. The studio has checked them, thoroughly." He stepped up to his seat and flipped through the script to the scene they were about to shoot. He squinted against the sun, looking over the set for any last minute changes. "Camera 2!" He barked, a slim camera-man popping out of the helicopter window to see what he wanted. "I want it nice and steady! Keep it just on the girl and the hand! I see white hair in this shot and you're canned!" He called, nodding when he received a thumbs up, returning his attention to his stunt man. "What do you care anyway? You're not on any cables. All you do is sit in the helicopter, and grab the girl."

"That's another thing, Naraku. That ditzy actress you got hasn't ever done stunts! Three days into shooting and you've got her driving off bridges!?" He raised his voice, causing a couple interns to turn their heads.

"She's on cables! All she's doing is jumping a few feet! The cables practically do the stunt for her!" Naraku growled, smacking the rolled up script on the table. "Look, she's new, but she's done great so far. If she wants to be Jackie Chan, who am I to argue? We're saving a bundle on a stunt girl!" He argued, watching Inuyasha grit his teeth and roll his eyes the whole time. Naraku slapped his arm with the script, pointing it at the helicopter. "She's fine! Now get your ass to your mark before I replace you with the bozo on camera 3!" A man turned from behind a bulky camera to look at them. "Not you!" He yelled.

"Fine! Don't blame me when you've got a dead starlet on your hands!" He yelled back, skulking over to the helicopter and hoisting himself inside. Naraku glared at him the whole way, but quickly turned his attention back to the set, collecting a megaphone from his side and raising it to his lips.

"Alright everybody! We get this in one take and we're done for the day!" There was a cheer sent up from the crew all around him, everyone but the stuntman getting excited for the intense scene they were about to shoot. "Saya! Are you ready?" He called, watching as the starlet in question raised her hand from the convertible.

"Ready!" Chirped Kagome, totally unaware of the groan her bright attitude inspired in Inuyasha. In truth, she was nervous as she settled back into the driver's seat. She picked up the steering wheel from the passenger's side and held it out in front of her where it should go, sliding it into place just right for it to stay. It had to be detached so it could easily break away, but still look functional. She gave it a couple shakes and decided it was good. It had to be, because they had only one take to get it perfect. The seat was set all the way back, so she couldn't press the gas or brakes of she wanted to, but it didn't matter. The car was on tracks, but through movie magic, it would all look perfectly real. She lightly patted her forehead with a tissue to clear off any sweat without ruining her makeup. Sure, Saya is a throat-punching-face-kicking-car-jumping bad ass, but she apparently never broke a sweat. Unfortunately, Kagome wasn't _that_ good of an actress.

She'd heard the entire conversation between the director and the stuntman, and it only steeled her resolve. If other big name actresses could do their own stunts, so could she. _Ditzy_. She huffed, narrowing her eyes at the set before her, tightening her grip on the barely attached wheel. _He doesn't even know_ _me!_ She thought angrily, glancing up at the white haired man with little dog ears, who looked almost bored sitting in the helicopter. She'd seen him do a couple falls from a few stories up the day before, and he'd apparently hurt his shoulder on one, but it didn't seem to be bothering him anymore. He'd been wearing a terrible brown wig then, to look more like the real star, Koga. He never did his own stunts, but he'd definitely earned that luxury. He was the whole reason she was so excited to be working on this project, because a _nobody_ like her could really get somewhere after being in a Koga movie. That's what happened to Ayame– and she was a bigger name than Koga now!

As Kagome stared up at the rude stuntman she idly thought about how her vantage point would be a great camera angle, until a call from the director brought her back to the present. All at once everything went silent, the stuntman moving into a crouched position on the edge of the helicopter, the cameras whirring as they started filming, Kagome getting into the zone.

"Action!"

All at once everything started moving. Her convertible lurched forward at an incredible pace towards the broken railway bridge before her. Her heart thudded in her chest, but she kept her eyes focused, being the badass Saya as she rocketed towards certain death. Another car, one with a real driver zoomed alongside her, an actor in the front and a camera in the back. She raised a fake gun and fired a few rounds at it before it skidded off to the side, pulling away as an explosion echoed behind her. _Now the brakes!_ She thought, her eyes going wide as she stomped her foot a few times to no avail. She grit her teeth dramatically, turning the wheel that easily fell off in her hands, looking at it with complete shock before throwing it out of the car. She grabbed the door, pushing herself out of the seat to stand like the car was one big surf board, looking around desperately for a way to escape. _Okay, helicopter!_ She looked up, eyes wide in surprise, her hair whipping around her face as the helicopter on the crane lowered to just above her. Everything was going perfectly. _Now– the jump!_ She sent one more wide eyed look forward at the quickly approaching break in the bridge. _Three… two.. One!_ She jumped for the helicopter, grabbing for the edge of the open door as the cables jerked her up, ensuring she would make it. Her hands wrapped around the edge just as the convertible rocketed over the gap in the bridge, flying for a moment before it plummeted into the ravine, exploding into a ball of fire.

 _Yes! I did it!_ She thought, keeping her face serious and cool as the helicopter swung them out over the perilous drop off the ravine, climbing higher with each moment. She let go of the ledge with one hand to reach out to the stuntman. The script calls for a few seconds of hesitation before he grabs it, but he stepped forward immediately. _No! What are you doing!? Not right away you'll kill the suspen–_ just as he reached out for her there was a sudden snap, and before Kagome even knew what was happening she felt her other hand slip from the edge. She started to fall, realizing all at once that the cable snapped, and the stuntman was right, and she really was going to be a dead starlet.

Time seemed to slow down as gravity shifted, her wide brown eyes connecting with gold for a split second before the stuntman was out of view. Her hand shot out to swipe at the landing gear of the helicopter, the last thing between her and the open air, but it was too far by an inch. She watched her last hope pass her hand as she fell, her eyes turning downward to the hundred foot drop she was about to experience every inch of with horrifying clarity. She squeezed her eyes shut and screamed, but felt something clamp hard around her wrist, halting her descent with such suddenness that she thought it might take her whole arm off. Her scream lingered for a second as She hung in air, until she blinked her eyes open and realized she wasn't falling. She heaved a few startled breaths as the crane halted, making her cry out again as the momentum made everything swing sharply to the right. She couldn't believe what was happening as she looked up to see the stuntman holding her wrist with one hand, the landing gear with the other, a look of sheer panic on his face, matching her own. Her eyes connected with his again as the crane began to rapidly lower the helicopter to the ground. She was in complete shock, frozen, and silent for the entire descent, just staring at the man who'd saved her life as he began to look calmer, but still slightly strained under holding both of their weight with one hand. They were only about nine feet off the ground when he unceremoniously dropped her wrist, letting her plummet the last bit of the way. Kagome released a sharp yelp before hitting the dirt with an "unf!" He dropped right after her, landing on his feet and marching straight over to the director to begin a new rant.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID I SAY, NARAKU!?" He screamed, wrenching the megaphone from his hands before heaving it as hard as he could into the ravine where the wreckage of the car still smouldered. He turned back to the stunned director just in time to see the man's face light up.

"You were right! You warned me!" He said with a manic smile, making Inuyasha take a step back in stunned confusion.

"Y-yeah! I did–!" he sputtered, unable to keep up with this bazaar reaction.

"But I'll be damned if that wasn't the SINGLE GREATEST SCENE EVER CAUGHT ON FILM!" The director tossed the script in the air, the papers fluttering everywhere as he ran passed Inuyasha to where Kagome was sitting on the ground, flocked by interns who were making sure she was okay. "Saya! Kid! Ah– what's your name again?" He asked, shoving a girl with an ice pack to the side.

"Eh… Kagome." She said shakily, still not believing what had just happened.

"Kagome! That was INCREDIBLE!" He shouted, Kagome only blinking in confusion at her suddenly very excited director. He took her hand without warning, pulling her to her feet. She yelped in pain, pulling her wrist back to her chest and cradling it with her other hand, but he completely ignored it as he grabbed both her shoulders. "This is the stuff! You've got the X factor– I mean it!" He bubbled, shaking her a bit with each word, thoughts of how many tickets this scene was going to sell running through his head. Suddenly the stuntman was by his side, pushing his arms off the startled girl.

"Easy! Can't you see she's injured?" He barked. The director suddenly paled, looking between Inuyasha and Kagome.

"Injured? Oh no… no no no… you're not injured are you? Not when we've got filming to do!" Naraku's demeanor changed in an instant, his hand resting on his chin as he looked away in deep thought. "If Kagome is injured, we'll just have to replace her… I know Kikyo is looking for work…"

"I'm not! I'm fine! I'm fine!" Kagome said, clapping her hands together before doing a little jazz hand motion. "See!? Fit as a fiddle!" She laughed nervously, doing her best not to cringe against the stabbing pain. Naraku brightened up again, a knowing smile on his lips.

"Perfect! Then we'll call it a day." He looked around for a moment for the megaphone before remembering it was gone. He sent Inuyasha a cold glare before cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting. "THAT'S A WRAP! SAME TIME TOMORROW!" A cheer went up amongst the crew as he smiled warmly at Kagome, patting her shoulder twice before happily strolling away. As soon as he turned his back Kagome dropped her lovely but completely fake smile, holding back a whine as she held her wrist. Inuyasha watched her unravel for a moment, considering laying into her for being so stupid as to even take the stunt, but decided to leave her be, turning to walk away and help the crew tear down.

"Ah! Wait!" She called after him, jogging up to walk alongside her savior, the stunt man, whose name she didn't even know. "I didn't even thank you yet!" She smiled up with honest gratitude at his disgruntled glare.

"Don't mention it." He muttered, continuing on his way. Kagome grabbed his arm to stop him, but immediately regretted it, pulling back her hand with a hiss. He sniffed with a little half smile, stopping only to laugh at her.

"That hurt or something? I thought you were 'fit as a fiddle.'" He smirked at her as she hugged the injured arm, knowing full well how bad it was. He'd felt the dainty wrist sprain when he'd caught it, but luckily he'd mostly grabbed her arm, so it wasn't broken. He'd be very surprised if it weren't at least a small fracture.

"I know it was stupid to lie, but… I really need this job!" She said explained in hushed tones so the director wouldn't overhear, still rubbing the wrist.

"More than you need a hand?" He asked dryly, an eyebrow raised in silent judgement. Kagome scoffed.

"It's not like it's gonna fall off! Just… hurt for a while." She replied, smiling even though he rolled his eyes at her.

"And what are you gonna do when it _hurts_ to fire a gun, or punch bad guys?" He asked smugly, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared down at her.

"I'm going to _act_ like it doesn't." He chucked at that, shaking his head at her.

"Alright, smart ass. Have it your way." He turned away once again to get to work.

"Kagome!" She corrected, making him pause for a moment to look at her. She dropped her hands from her chest as she walked back to his side, smiling softly. "My name is Kagome."

"Yeah, I know. Kagome the smart-ass stunt woman slash movie-star." He teased, making her huff and try to cross her arms, only to realize she couldn't without hurting her wrist. She settled for putting one hand on her hip, glaring up as he tried not to laugh at her.

"And you're the smart-ass stuntman slash _hero,_ named…?" She raised a brow expectantly.

"Names Inuyasha." He said, raising his right hand and holding it out to shake. "Pleased to meet you." His straight faced joke didn't go unnoticed, earning him an unamused glare. She couldn't shake his hand and he knew it, so she batted it away with her left. He scoffed with mock indignation as she began walking away. "What? No shake? How about a high-five?" He said, walking along her side.

"You really are a smartass!" She remarked playfully.

"Smartass who saved you from being a human puddle." She smiled at the comment, but knew it was true, if not a bit graphic.

"And you're so _noble_ about it too." She replied, smiling as he tsked, brushing off her praise.

"I was just looking out for the production. Would have killed the pg-13 rating for sure." She stopped mid step to turn to him with a glare.

"You must be an even better actor than Koga! You sure did _look_ concerned for me up when we were up there." Inuyasha scoffed under the accusation, but for once didn't have a witty reply. So he was worried, big deal. He wasn't a sadist, nobody likes to see people die for no reason.

"So?" He asked, ignoring the cute little smile she was trying not to show.

"So… thank you, Inuyasha." She replied softly. He stared down at her as he realized she might not actually be a complete ditz, but kind of a sweet girl. It might have been a good thing today, but in their industry, sweet girls don't always last very long. The film business was truly dog-eat-dog, and that was just the way it went. He might have saved her today, but nobody could save her from the path she was so eagerly heading down.

"Like I said… don't mention it." He said, shrugging as he continued on to clear the set.


End file.
